Adjustable mirror support

ABSTRACT

D R A W I N G

United States Patent 2,852,222 9/1958 Bogar Inventor Vincent J. Lococo g2006 Gladstone Ave., Louisville, Ky. 40205 Appl. No. 17,707 Filed Mar.9, 1970 Patented Dec. 28, 1971 ADJUSTABLE MIRROR SUPPORT PrimaryExaminer-William H. Schultz Attorney-Arthur F. Robert ABSTRACT: Anadjustable mirror support of the 3-elementhorizontal-bracket/vertical-channel/clamping-means comprising:

A. a vertical rearwardly-open U shapcd channel;

a horizontal forwardly-open U-shaped bracket, throught whichthe channelextends vertically;

C. channel-bracket clamping means including 1. clamping flanges,horizontally intumed from the side walls of the channel to extend towardeach screw-threaded means on the bracket for moving the channelforwardly from an unclamped position to a clamped position, wherein,

a. in the clamped position, the channels clamping flanges engage thebrackets clamping flanges while the slot-forming edges of the channelsflanges extend so closely adjacent the front and portions of theforwardly diverging sidewalls of the bracket post as to prevent anysignificant transverse play therebetween, and thereby center the channelon the bracket, and

b. in the unclamped position, the channel's clamping flanges are spacedrearwardly from the brackets clamping flanges while the slot-formingedges of the channels clamping flanges are transversely spaced from therear end portion of the forwardly diverging sidewalls of the bracketpost sufficiently to permit significant transverse play between thechannel and the bracket and thereby allow nonbinding movement of thechannel relative to the bracket.

Patented Dec." 28, 1971 VINCENT J. LOCOCO ATTORNEY ADJUSTABLE MIRRORSUPPORT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field Of The Invention Thisinvention relates to devices for supporting a mirror in an adjustableelevated position from an underlying base.

More particularly, the invention relates to an improvement in amirror-supporting device .of the three-element type comprising: ahorizontal U-shaped bracket opening forwardly; 2. a vertical U-shapedchannel opening rearwardly and extending upwardly through the bracket;and 3. screw-actuated means for clamping the channel to each bracket.

2. Description Of The Prior Art An adjustable mirror supporting assemblypresently made by G ee Manufacturing Co. of Houston, Texas anddesignated G-Lox No. 100 comprises: 1. a pair of forwardly open U-shapedhorizontal brackets mountable in vertically spaced and verticallyaligned relationship, one on a base and the other on an overlyingmirror; 2. a vertically elongate rearwardly open U-shaped channelextending upwardly through the forwardly open U-space of both brackets,the sides of the channel converging rearwardly toward the slotlikeopening of the channel; and 3 screwactuated means for clamping thechannel to each bracket, said means including a vertically spaced pairof bracket-bright flanges extending forwardly into the channel, fromopposite top and bottom edges of the bight of the bracket, with theirhorizontal rightand left-side edges diverging forwardly within thechannel to conform with the channels forwardly diverging or rearwardlyconverging sides, and a clamping screw centrally threaded to the bightof the bracket for relative forward and rearward movement through thespace between bight flanges of the bracket and operative during forwardmovement to engage the inner bight face of the channel and move thechannel bodily forward until the converging sides of the channel areforced forwardly into clamping engagement with the diverging rightandleft-side edges of the bracket-bight flanges.

The US. Pat. Nos. to Garrett 2,313,532, Anderson 2,335,896, Garrett2,607,553, Haugaard 2,688,901, Norris 2,694,543, Bogar, .Ir. 2,852,222,and Cousins 2,893,666 exemplify the patented art on mirror supportingdevices of the three-element type.

None of the mirror supports of the foregoing prior art is selfcenteringand, so far as I am aware, all are subject to binding to some extent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Objects Of The Invention The principal objectsof the invention are: to provide and adjustable mirror support which,when clamped, is not subject to binding; and to provide a support whichis self-centering in the process of being clamped.

Other important objects are to provide a nonbinding and preferablyself-centering adjustable mirror support of simple design which isinexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and use and adjust andreadjust, easy to disassemble and not readily subject to derangement.

Statement Of The Invention The present invention resides in providing asupport composed of a forwardly open bracket, a rearwardly open channelloosely passing upwardly through the U-space of the bracket, andclamping means including a pair of horizontally intumed clamping flangesextending from the sides of the channel toward each other with their endedges spaced to define a long vertical slot, a stationary horizontalpost, having front and rear ends and forwardly diverging sidewalls,rigidly mounted at its rear end on the inner bight fact of the bracketto project forwardly therefrom into the slot of the channel andterminating within the channel in a pair of horizontally clampingflanges, which are horizontally out-tumed at an obtuse angle and whichprovide rearwardly facing clamping surfaces, and a clamping screwextending'through the bight and post of the bracket and threaded to thebracket for relative forward and rearward movement and operative, duringforward movement, to engage the rear inner bight face of the channel andforce the channel bodily forward until its inturned clamping flanges areforced forwardly into clamping engagement with the out-tumed clampingflanges of the bracket post.

In the preferred embodiment, all clamping surfaces are parallel. Thisold feature coupled with the diverging sidewalls of the post tends toprevent the channel from binding on the bracket during the clampingoperation even when the channel is canted at the beginning of thatoperation and enables the clamping screw to force a canted channelinwardly and simultaneously turn it toward a parallel condition in whichit is finally clamped tightly into place. Furthermore, when the channelis clamped, the slot forming end edges of its flanges are positioned soclosely adjacent the bracket post so as to prevent any significantright-to-left play of the channel relative to the bracket. As aconsequence, binding is eliminated and self-centering is promoted. Theclamped channel will always be centered on the post and also on thebracket, if the post is centered.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the rear face of a mirror mountedon the backface of a dresser through adjustable mirror supportsconstructed in accordance with my invention;

FIGS. 2-5 are enlarged views of my construction, FIG. 2 showingidentical halves of the bridge member or bracket unit of my support,one-half in section and the other in elevation, FIG. 3 being aperspective view of the same bracket unit, FIG. 4 is a sectional view ofmy bracket-channel assembly, this view corresponding to one taken'alongline 4-4 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the assembly seenin FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of a bracket unit modification.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 discloses: a base memberI, which may be a furniture part, such as a dresser or a chest ofdrawers; a mirror 2 operatively positioned above the rear end portion ofthe base I with the rear face of the mirror aligned with the backface ofthe base so that both faces extend in the same vertical plane 3, hereincalled the securing plane; and a horizontally spaced pair of assembliessupporting the mirror 2 on the base I at an adjustable height.

While each of these specific assemblies, as illustrated, comprises threehorizontal brackets, (mounted in vertically spaced and verticallyaligned relationship),-two for the base and one for the mirror, onevertical channel and three clamping means, one for each bracket, anadjustable mirror support, made in accordance with my invention, broadlyor basically includes only one specimen of each element, hence, mythreeelement support essentially comprises: one horizontal bracket; onevertical channel; and one screw-actuated clamping means.

Horizontal Bracket The horizontal bracket 5 comprises a short horizontalstrap of metal bent or fashioned lengthwise to a forwardly open U- shapecharacterized by a bight 6 and forwardly diverging legs 7, whichtenninate at the mouth of the U in parallel forwardly facing out-tumedflanges 8. While the strap of bracket 5, preferably, is composed ofmetal, it may be composed of plastic or other suitable material. Also,while forwardly diverging legs 7 are preferred, the legs may extend atright angles to the bight 6. The parallel forwardly facing out-turnedflanges 8 constitute securing flanges which extend laterally along thebackface of the securing plane 3, each flange 8 having a horizontallyelongate hole 9 for a securing screw. Vertical Channel The channelelement of my support comprises a long rearwardly open U-shaped metalchannel 10 characterized by a bight 11 and legs 12 extending rearwardlyat right angles to the bight. As seen in FIG. 2, the left-to-right widthand the front-to-rear depth of the channel 10 is made sufficientlysmaller than the corresponding dimensions of the U-space of the bracketto enable the channel to pass loosely through that bracket space and toprovide for limited horizontal forward-rearward movement of the channelwithin that bracket space.

Clamping Means The means for clamping the channel within the bracket (tothe bracket) includes: 1 a pair of parallel horizontally intumedclamping flanges 14 extending from the rear ends of the legs or sides 12of the channel horizontally toward each other and partially over thewidth of the channel with their end edges transversely spaced from eachother to define an interposed vertical slot running the length of thechannel; 2 a stationary horizontal post 16, having front and rear endsand forwardly diverging sidewalls, rigidly mounted at its rear end onthe midportion of the inner bight face of the bracket 5 to extend acrossthe full vertical width of the bight with its forwardly divergingsidewalls projecting into the slot of the channel 10, said post 16terminating within the channel in a pair of parallel horizontallyout-turned clamping flanges 17, which are horizontally out-turned at anobtuse angle and which provide rearwardly facing clamping surfaces; and3 a clamp actuating device mounted to the bracket 5 for relative forwardand rearward movement through the post 16 of the bracket and operative,during forward movement, to engage the inner or rear face of the bightll of the channel 10, and thereafter move the channel bodily forwarduntil the front faces of the intumed clamping flanges 14 of the channel10 are forced forwardly into clamping engagement with the rear faces ofthe outtumed clamping flanges 17 of the post 16.

In the preferred embodiment, the intumed clamping flanges 14 are notonly parallel to each other but also parallel to the out-turned clampingflanges 17 of the bracket post. The flanges 17 of the post 16 preferablyextend at right angles to the front-to-rear axis of the post. The rearcomer, fonned between each leg 12 of the channel and its clamping flange14, preferably is curved about 90 around (but not snugly fitted to) theouter end portion of the appropriate out-turned clamping flange 17 ofthe bracket post 16. With a radius of curvature on the channel slightlylarger'than the radius on the post flanges, the maximum right-to-leftwidth of the channel is slightly greater than the correspondingdimension of the flanged part of post 16. This produces a clearancetherebetween which contributes to the nonbinding feature of thissupport.

In the clamped position, the clamping flanges 14 of the channel 10engage the clamping flanges 17 of the post 16 of the bracket 5 while theslot-forming edges 15 of the channels flanges 14 extend so closelyadjacent the front end portion of the forwardly diverging sidewalls ofthe bracket post 16 as to prevent any significant transverse play of thechannel relative to the bracket. This prevents binding in the process ofclamping the channel to the bracket. It also insures transverseselfcentering of the channel 10 in the precise position it is intendedto occupy on the bracket 5 or vice versa. If the clamped channel 10 isintended to occupy one position, in which it is transversely centered onthe bracket, and if the post 16 is centered on the bracket, then theclamped channel 10 will be centered on both the post and the bracket.This transverse self-centering feature has an importantadvantage in thatthe mere act of clamping two or more brackets to a common channel servesto align all of the clamped brackets with each other. Consequently, twoor more mirror supports can be properly mounted on a base simply byclamping the brackets to the channel, and mounting the clamped bracketson the base while making certain that the channels are arrangedprecisely vertical. With the mounted channels vertical, they will beparallel. Consequently, one need only position and clamp the mirrorbrackets on the vertical channels, level the mirror against its bracketsand then secure the mirror to the brackets.

In the unclamped position, the clamping flanges 14 of the channel 10 arespaced rearwardly from the clamping flanges 17 of the bracket post 16while the slot-forming edges 15 of the channels clamping flanges-l4 aretransversely spaced from the rear end portion of the forwardly divergingsidewalls of the bracket post 16 sufficiently to permit significanttransverse play between the channel and bracket. The horizontallyforward and lateral spacings insure nonbinding vertical movement of theunclamped channel relative to and within the bracket.

It is desirable to minimize the overall front to rear depth of a mirrorsupport bracket. The shallower these brackets are, the better. Theachievement of a shallow depth is possible in the preferred constructionbecause it uses a standard steel channel in combination with divergingsidewalls on its bracket post. The use of a standard channel is verydesirable. The diverging sidewalls of the post 16 permit clamping in acentered position which, as desired, either eliminates the sideplayclearance in the .channel slot or reduces it to the barest minimum. Thatsame diverging wall feature insures front-torear and right-to-leftclearance between the channel and the bracket parts upon a very slightdepthwise separation of their flanges because the slot-forming end edgesof the channel flanges are contemporaneously spaced from the rearwardlyconverging walls of the post. Since only the slightest rearward movementof the channel out of its clamping position is required to permit it toenjoy nonbinding vertical movement relative to the bracket, thefront-to-rear dimension (of the space required to accommodate thefront-to-rear movement of the channel within the bracket) can beminimized to minimize the overall depth of the bracket.

Installation And Operation The installation of mirror supportingassemblies, made in accordance with the present invention, and theadjustment of such assemblies in use will be readily understood from theforegoing, which is not significantly different from the techniquesemployed in installing and adjusting adjustable mirror supports of theprior art. Accordingly, it should suffice to say that the brackets 5 arelocated on the base 1 and mirror 2 in accordance with any conventionalpractice insuring the vertical alignment of corresponding base bracketswith the corresponding mirror brackets. Likewise, each channel 10 ispassed through corresponding base bracket 5, adjusted to a desiredelevational position and clamped to said corresponding base brackets bytightening the corresponding clamping screws 20. Thereafter the mirroris leveled to a desired elevation and each channel is clamped to thecorresponding mirror bracket-post assembly through the correspondingclamping screw 20. Vertical alignment of all brackets is facilitated bythe use of horizontally elongate securing holes 9.

Preferred Fabrication While the bracket 5, post 16 and out-turnedflanges 17 may be fabricated in any suitable way, they preferably areformed as one integral unit, which is made as heavy as is reasonablypossible to insure the securement of the requisite rigidity and strengthnecessary to maintain the integrity of the unit and its adherence toclose tolerance under clamping stresses. Preferably, that heavy unit isextruded widthwise and cut to desired width because the extrudingprocess provides an easy way of rapidly and accurately producing it to aclose tolerance in a desired shape or contour.

The channel 10 and its intumed flanges 14 preferably is made in thestandard readily available form shown. it preferably is composed ofmetal v(steel, aluminum, etc.) although it may be made of other suitablematerials including plastic.

While the manually operated clamp actuating device may be of any form,its simplest form comprises the clamping screw 20 shown; hence, apassageway 21 is formed through the bight 6 and post 16 of the bracket 5and part (or all) of that passageway is threaded to receive clampingscrew 20. The passageway 21 preferably is concentric to the long centeraxis of post 16.

One embodiment of a satisfactory three-element assembly may be made withthe following dimensions, viz: 3 inches overall horizontal length bythree-fourths inches width by onesixteenth inch (strap metal) thickness;three-eighths inch by three-sixteenths inch holes for securing screws; abracket U- space left-to-right width at its rear end of 1-1/ I6 inch ahdat its front end of 1% inches with a l 15 angle of divergence betweenthe bight 6 and adjacent leg 7; a U-space (bracket) depth of seventeenthirty'seconds embracing five thirtysecond inch post length betweenbight 6 and flange l7, seven thirty-second inch flange l7 thickness andfive thirty-second inch clearance between flange l7 and inch plane 3; aminimum horizontal clearance of five thirty-second inch between flange17 and the adjacent leg 7; post 16 widths of three-eighth inch at itsrear end and one-half inch at its flange end; a radius of sevensixty-fourths inch for the circular curvature of each post flange 17; anoverall right-to-left length of fifteen-sixteenth inch between outerends of flanges 17; a channel 10 width of 1% inches and depth ofseven-sixteenths inch with a five thirty-seconds inch radius for thecurvature between each side of the channel and its adjacent inturnedflange l4; and a channel slot of one-half inch between flanges 14. Itwill be noted that, in the foregoing dimensions, the onehalf inchhorizontal spacing, between the end edges of the channel flanges l4,equals the one-half inch horizontal width of the post 16 at the frontend of its diverging walls and exceeds (by one-eighth of an inch) thethree-eighths inch horizontal width of the post atits rear end; hence,the sideplay of the channel 10 relative to the post 16 varies fromoneeighth of an inch in its rearmost unclamped position to zero in itsclamped position.

Advantages This construction has many advantages. First, the stresses,created in use by the clamping operation, are confined to eachthree-element support as a unit and are not transmitted through bracket5 to either the base 1 or the mirror 2. Secondly, it is relativelyinexpensive to manufacture since the bracket 5 unit can be extruded andstandard box channels used for channel 10. The extruded bracket unit canbe made to close permanent tolerances.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it will be noted: that theout-turned post flanges are permanently parallel to each other andnormal to the axis of the clamping screw and that the inturned channelflanges 14 are parallel to each other permanently and parallel to theout-turned flanges 17 when clamped thereto. This integration of the post16 and flanges 17 and bracket 5 into one rigid unit has the advantage ofpreventing the channel from binding within the bracket duringlongitudinal movement vertically in either direction and duringhorizontal clamping or unclamping movement.

In the latter connection, let us assume that channel 10 is cantedrelative to the bracket 5 at the beginning of a clamping operation. Inthat case, during the clamping operation, the clamping screw 20 willengage the bight ll of the canted channel 10 and force that channel toswing toward its uncanted position and ultimately force it into itsparallel clamping position without encountering any binding actionwhatsoever.

Furthermore, if the end edges 15 of the inturned flanges 14, whenclamped, extend closely to the opposite sides of post 16, then thechannel will be centered on the axis of the clamping screw 20 and, ifthat screw is centered, the channel 10 will be correspondingly centeredon bracket 5. The clamped channel 10 may not be centered if either orboth of the end edges 15 of its inturned flanges 14 are spaced from thepost 16 sufficiently to permit some side play of the channel 10 relativeto the post 16.

MODIFICATION In FIG. 6, the bracket unit extrusion is modified toprovide the front or forward face of its flanged portion with a centralslot into which a conventional four-sided threaded-nut 26 is pressfitted. This arrangement has the advantage of maintaining theintegration of the bracket 5, post 6 and flanges 17 into one rigid unitand of providing a unit, which is less expensive to produce because itis lighter in weight and makes use of prefabricated threaded-nuts 26that are inexpensive to produce and easily and inexpensively pressfitted into slot 25,

thus maintaining a rigid integrated unit and inexpensively providing itwith threads to receive the clamping screw 20.

The slot 25 may be in the form of a hole rather than a slot and it maybe used solely to reduce the weight of the support,

hence, without nut 26.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. An adjustable mirror support comprising:

A. a horizontal bracket of general U-shape presenting a forwardly openspace;

B. a vertical rearwardly open U-shaped channel adapted to pass upwardlythrough the forwardly open space of, the bracket; and

C. clamping means for clamping the channel to the bracket,

said means including 7 l. a pair of horizontally inturned clampingflanges extending from the sides of the channel toward each other a.with the end edges of the flanges spaced transversely apart to define along vertical slot, and

b. with the inner faces of the flanges providing forwardly facingclamping surfaces,

2 a stationary horizontal post, having rear and front ends and forwardlydiverging sidewalls, rigidly mounted at its rear end on the inner bightface of the bracket to project forwardly therefrom into the slot of achannel passing through the bracket,

a. the width between the diverging walls of the post, at the front endof the post, closely approximating the width of the channel slot forcentering purposes and, at the rear end of the post, being smaller thansaid slot width for clearance purposes, and

b. the diverging sidewalls of said post terminating within the channelin a pair of clamping flanges, which are horizontally out-turned at anobtuse angle to the diverging sidewalls and which provide rearwardlyfacing clamping surfaces that are parallel to the forwardly facingclamping surfaces of the channel, and

3 screw-threaded means on the bracket for moving the channel forwardlyfrom an unclamped position to a clamped position, wherein a. in theclamped position, the channel's clamping flanges engage the bracketsclamping flanges while the slot forming edges of the channel s flangesextend so closely adjacent the front ends of the forwardly divergingsidewalls of the bracket post as to prevent any significant transverseplay between the channel and bracket parts and thereby transverselycenter such parts, and

b. in the unclamped position, the channels clamping flanges are spacedrearwardly from the brackets clamping flanges while the slot-formingedges of the channels clamping flanges are transversely spaced from therear end portion of the forwardly diverging sidewalls of the bracketpost sufficiently to permit significant transverse play between thechannel and bracket parts and thereby allow longitudinal non bindingmovement of one part relative to the other.

2. The support of claim I wherein:

A. the post has a forward-rearward axis centered between its forwardlydiverging sidewalls, is centrally disposed on the bight of the bracketand extends vertically across the width of the bracket;

B. all clamping surfaces are parallel to each other and perpendicular tothe forward-rearward axis of the post; and C. the screw-threaded meansincludes a clamping screw centered on the post axis and extendingthrough both the bight of the bracket and the post on the bracket.

3. The support of claim 1 wherein:

A. the rearwardly open channel has a flat rear bight connected byrounded rear comers to its sidewalls which are perpendicular to thebight,

1. the sidewalls being connected by rounded front corners to theclamping flanges which are perpendicular to the sidewalls; and

B. the bracket is an extrusion.

t I t 1. l

1. An adjustable mirror support comprising: A. a horizontal bracket ofgeneral U-shape presenting a forwardly open space; B. a verticalrearwardly open U-shaped channel adapted to pass upwardly through theforwardly open space of the bracket; and C. clamping means for clampingthe channel to the bracket, said means including
 1. a pair ofhorizontally inturned clamping flanges extending from the sides of thechannel toward each other a. with the end edges of the flanges spacedtransversely apart to define a long vertical slot, and b. with the innerfaces of the flanges providing forwardly facing clamping surfaces, 2 astationary horizontal post, having rear and front ends and forwardlydiverging sidewalls, rigidly mounted at its rear end on the inner bightface of the bracket to project forwardly therefrom into the slot of achannel passing through the bracket, a. the width between the divergingwalls of the post, at the front end of the post, closely approximatingthe width of the channel slot for centering purposes and, at the rearend of the post, being smaller than said slot width for clearancepurposes, and b. the diverging sidewalls of said post terminating withinthe channel in a pair of clamping flanges, which are horizontallyout-turned at an obtuse angle to the diverging sidewalls and whichprovide rearwardly facing clamping surfaces that are parallel to theforwardly facing clamping surfaces of the channel, and 3 screw-threadedmeans on the bracket for moving the channel forwardly from an unclampedposition to a clamped position, wherein a. in the clamped position, thechannel''s clamping flanges engage the bracket''s clamping flanges whilethe slot forming edges of the channel''s flanges extend so closelyadjacent the front ends of the forwardly diverging sidewalls of thebracket post as to prevent any significant transverse play between thechannel and bracket parts and thereby transversely center such parts,and b. in the unclamped position, the channel''s clamping flanges arespaced rearwardly from the bracket''s clamping flanges while theslot-forming edges of the channel''s clamping flanges are transverselyspaced from the rear end portion of the forwardly diverging sidewalls ofthe bracket post sufficiently to permit significant transverse playbetween the channel and bracket parts and thereby allow longitudinalnonbinding movement of one part reLative to the other.
 2. The support ofclaim 1 wherein: A. the post has a forward-rearward axis centeredbetween its forwardly diverging sidewalls, is centrally disposed on thebight of the bracket and extends vertically across the width of thebracket; B. all clamping surfaces are parallel to each other andperpendicular to the forward-rearward axis of the post; and C. thescrew-threaded means includes a clamping screw centered on the post axisand extending through both the bight of the bracket and the post on thebracket.
 3. The support of claim 1 wherein: A. the rearwardly openchannel has a flat rear bight connected by rounded rear corners to itssidewalls which are perpendicular to the bight,